Why is it that we can breathe in steam/water vapor, and not worry about small amounts of water getting into our lungs?

Question

I take a lot of hot showers, and sometimes I find myself wondering why I am able to breathe in the steam around me and not worry about any water-in-lungs related health concerns. How is breathing in steam different than breathing in small amounts of water droplets?

In: 6500

Answer 1

The wider question would be, how come you don’t drown in your own spit and mucus, or get your lungs stuffed full of dust.

And the answer is that the mucus membrane that covers the inside of your lungs is covered by cilia, microscopic tubular structures on surfaces of your cells that waft back and forth and continuously push mucus out of your lungs so you end up continuously swallowing it all. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_epithelium#/media/File:Blausen_0766_RespiratoryEpithelium.png](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilium#/media/File:Blausen_0766_RespiratoryEpithelium.png)